Rossini – Semiramide Overture

Work:

• Rossini, Semiramide Overture

Composed:

• 1823

First Performance: 

• La Fenice in Venice on 3 February 1823.

Brief history: 

• Rossini’s opera was based on a Voltaire tragedy. The music took the form of a return to vocal traditions of Rossini’s youth, and was a melodrama in which he “recreated the baroque tradition of decorative singing with unparalleled skill”. The ensemble-scenes (particularly the duos between Arsace and Semiramide) and choruses are of a high order, as is the orchestral writing, which made full use of the large pit in the La Fenice Theatre.

Audio Excerpt from:

• Label: Naxos
• Artists: Prague Sinfonia Orchestra

Video lesson by:

• Christopher Green